In the shipping industry, there are now in use many methods and devices for loading and unloading industrial rolls of paper ranging in weight from 800 lbs. to 3,500 lbs.
The methods and devices now in use are as follows:
1. Standing the paper rolls on end and lifting them with mechanical head clamps; PA1 2. Banding the rolls together in pairs and placing four at a time on metal platforms, which are lifted with slings; PA1 3. A forklift with hydraulic side clamps (instead of a fork) grabs the paper rolls and stacks them onto the platforms; PA1 4. Laying the rolls flat over circular web slings, then tightening the sling around the roll to be lifted by crane; PA1 5. Placing the rols on end on top of a square rigged web sling, then pulling the four corners of the sling up over the top of the roll to be lifted by crane; and, PA1 6. Inserting a vacuum probe into the core of the sling, then expanding said probe by blowing air into it by hydraulic means, then lifting the roll by its end with a crane.
The problem to which this invention is directed is that most of the methods presently used can either result in substantial damage to the paper rolls (damage running as high as 27% of all paper shift) or the method results in relatively slow handling with significant labour required which therefore makes such handling methods expensive.
An object of the present invention is to provide for lifting and loading of paper rolls which will reduce the potential for damage and at the same time provide for reduced need for labour-intensive handling and assist in providing for quicker handling.
The invention can be said to reside in an assembly for effecting a lifting of the paper roll wherein the roll includes a hollow axial core, the assembly including support means interlocking with the core at a first end of the core, and a lifting sling engaging, at one end, the support means and extending therefrom through the hollow core to protude from the other end of the core.
In preference, the support means are comprised of a first part extending across and beyond that part which is hollow of the first end of the roll and a second part within the hollow core engaging the inner wall and providing for centering support of the sling thereby.
By having the sling pass effectively through the full depth of a hollow core of a paper roll enables the sling to be held by a relatively simple and therefore economic arrangement at the bottom end where the shape of the hollow core terminates providing a lowermost abutting bottom face.
A further problem, however, is that slings appropriate for the application are best obtainable as a continuous loop.
In a preferred arrangement then, there is proposed that these support means are comprised of at least two separable parts, one of which is a sling interlock part which can be separately positioned through the sling and thereafter interlock with the support means and therefore the sling.
In a further preferred arrangement, the second part is comprised of two members each cut and formed from a plate-like shape of the first part.
In preference, the two members are of substantially the same size and shape and are located so as to provide engaging support for the sling.
The invention in a further form can be said to reside in paper roll lifting means including support means adapted by reason of shape and size to interlock with one end of a core of a paper roll, and a lifting sling comprised of an endless strap, engaging, at one end the support means and being adapted by reason of its length to extend through the hollow core of the paper roll.